Facility and real estate management professionals are often involved in the process of renovating their existing facilities or moving into historical buildings that require updates. One of the first decisions to be made is if they should keep the existing floors or remove them and install new ones.
The IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute (IVL) recently conducted a study to better understand the environmental impact of refinishing compared to replacing hardwood or resilient flooring materials. The study found that renewing floor surfaces can offer:
- Up to a 92% reduction in a facility’s carbon footprint when compared to floor replacement
- A 95% savings in energy resources, measured by transportation, electricity use, consumables, and materials.
Sustainability is a key driver in commercial real estate today. It is becoming more common to convert dilapidated, scratched, faded, and just plain ugly flooring into beautiful, environmentally safe, durable, and budget-friendly showpieces.
There are times however when floors are replaced. This results in companies contributing to overflowing landfills, lengthening the construction timeline, ruining their budgets, and subjecting those nearby to harmful fumes. In today’s reality of new flooring trends, floors can be successfully renovated—regardless of their existing condition—and efficiently maintained for a long-lasting life.
When it’s time to remodel the facility or if the flooring is damaged to the point of being hazardous, the tendency is to tear the flooring out. Landfills receive the majority of this non-biodegradable material. In addition to creating more landfill waste, replacing flooring surfaces is expensive and time consuming. However, restoring existing surfaces is an innovative, growing option with many benefits, including a reduced environmental impact.
Many flooring surfaces eventually become dull, slippery, or damaged with wear and tear. At this point building managers either choose to polish or replace the flooring. There are now new options to restore and transform flooring surfaces that have long-term benefits including minimized facility downtime, less labor costs for polish upkeep, and extended life of the surface.
As the industry evolves and our focus on sustainability continues to grow, facilities will need to change restoration, replacement, cleaning, and maintenance practices. New products and techniques now allow more options that will help the environment. For more information contact KCR today. We have over 10 years of refinishing and restoring wood and stone floors to their original beauty!